Electric bicycles afford ecologically friendly transportation combining the health benefits of traditional bicycles with battery powered motor assistance that enables riders to travel further and faster thereby improving the utility of bicycles for more riders and circumstances. Electric bicycles are powered by small batteries that have a constrained storage capacity and thus must be periodically recharged from an electrical source. Battery charging typically requires the battery to be attached to an electrical source for many hours. To make battery charging more convenient and secure it is desirable that the battery can be detached from the bicycle so that it might be recharged. For example, the bicycle might be locked at a bicycle rack near an office, outside a home at night or in a garage where there is no conveniently located source of electricity for charging. A removable battery can be detached from the bicycle, carried inside a building where it can be charged, and then reattached to the bicycle after charging.
Generally, an electric bicycle uses a motor to drive one of the wheels on the bicycle and a battery is used to provide power to the motor. The battery is contained within a battery compartment or case that is normally mounted on the frame of the bicycle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,934,576 discloses a bicycle frame that includes an electric battery located in a container or compartment that is mounted in one of a plurality chambers in the bicycle frame. At least one of the chambers has a cutout structure to receive the battery container, and at least another of the chambers has no cutout structure so as to compensate for the reduced rigidity resulting from the cutout structure.
This patent discloses a battery that is secured on only the front, back and bottom sides and is inserted into a cavity in the frame from the top, not from the sides. Thus, the battery is secured only by a three sided cavity in the bicycle frame. This prior art frame requires additional frame structure of a separate cross member and additional heavy reinforcement because the frame is vulnerable to buckling and requires a separate cross member or heavy reinforcement to compensate for the reduced strength and rigidity.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,934,576 also discloses a locking mechanism for securing a battery compartment to a bicycle frame in which a latching mechanism is required for easier access to the interior of the battery compartment to replace or charge the battery. However, a bicycle frame having a plurality of chambers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,934,576, weakens the structural integrity of the overall bicycle and is not cost-effective to manufacture.
Thus, a new battery container structure is needed to be easily mountable onto a bicycle frame, is economical to manufacture, has rigidity to protect the battery, and that is easily accessible so that the contained batteries can be recharged.